No Reason to be Short
by BeastNamedKay
Summary: Stephanie and Ranger meet during a job interview. Does Ranger feel the connection? Out of the Darkness outtake.


Hey, guys! Ok, this is the long awaited first meeting from Ranger's point of view! Enjoy!

* * *

Glancing at my second in command, Tank, he nods at me to signal that my potential hire is in the conference room. That is one of the things I love about Tank: we don't have to talk to communicate. Walking in, I make sure my "blank face" as some people call it is firmly down. It wouldn't do me any good to let Ms. Plum know my weaknesses before she even gets hired.

Upon entrance, I was met by the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. And I have seen a lot a pretty people. I mean a lot of pretty people. Long, waist-length, curly, brown hair, round face, stunning blue eyes, and full lips. Somehow I get the feeling that the inside is just as beautiful as the outside. But, I have a job to do.

"Hello, I'm Ranger Manoso. I'll be interviewing you today," I say shaking her hand. Oddly enough, I felt a tingle on the back of my neck when I touched her. As strong as my intuition is, I have never felt something like that. "Please sit."

Walking to the other side of the table, I shake my head gently. I have to get a hold of myself. "Well, Easton has filled me in on your educational background. He also says that you have a few talents that would interest me. Tell me about them," I say. By now, most people, especially women, have at least started to get a little scared of me. But not Stephanie. I am naturally intimidating. That is actually good in my profession but sometimes it would be nice not to be feared.

"Easton told me you would ask that. According to him, I have amazing instincts but I don't think so. Really, I can just read people really well," Stephanie says. Intriguing…

"Read me," I say leaning back in my chair, showing nothing. I am already fairly sure I will hire her. This is just a test. A test I know she will fail.

"You're not a bad person, you just think you are. The things you did in the past, they don't matter. They made you who you are today. It wasn't your fault. Let it go," Stephanie replies.

"I'm not showing you all of that," I say to her. No way. This is not happening.

"I see more than you think," Stephanie states knowingly.

"You don't know anything about me," I say. I am a little ashamed to admit it, but my voice wavered a little at the end. Normally I would say that no one else noticed, but I think it would be in my best interest not to underestimate her again.

"I know more than you think."

I slowly nod and make my decision. She is hired. Standing up and walking out of the conference room, I walk to my office and grab the employee contract. Pausing for a few seconds outside of the door, I try to regain at least some of my composure. Dios, what has this woman done to me?

"This page has your requirements and this one has your benefits," I say, pointing to each in turn. "You can look at them now and if you agree to the terms, sign this one. After that you will officially be a RangeMan."

"Don't you mean RangeWoman?" she says with a smirk. Girl's got jokes.

With a slight nod she sticks out her hand. "Do you have a pen?"

"Welcome to RangeMan," I say, handing her the pen and standing up.

"Thank you," she says. "Quick question, when do I start?"

"As soon as possible," I say quickly. As much as I don't want to admit it, the rest of the core team and I are way behind on our paper work. We really need her to help dig us out of this hole.

"I can finish out the work day."

"Would you like a tour of the building?" I say, leading her to the door.

"Sure," she replies.

"This way is the offices and the lounge. The core team and I have offices. There are also two extra offices, one of which you can have." I say pointing her in the general direction "You can decorate it yourself or you can have the interior designer for the rest of the building design it, free of charge.

"On the right side is my office, Tank's, and Lester's. On the left is Bobby's office and the two extra ones. We can look at them now if you would like," I say.

"It really doesn't matter," she says.

Taking her back to the control room, I finish explaining the building setup. "This is the control room. The monitors on the wall in front of us are for the buildings we secure. The cubicles here are for the men to do background checks on our skips, potential clients, and possible hires.

"The first floor is just the reception desk and waiting room. Floor two is finance and HR. There are also several more conference rooms on that floor. Floor three is the shooting range and gym. Floor four has the worker apartments. Six is where our housekeeper, Ella, and her husband who is also the handyman, Louis, stay. Seven is my penthouse apartment. Any questions?" I ask.

After seeing her shake her head, I continued talking. "I have to go meet a few clients later today so you will be in the hands of Tank for the rest of the day."

"Tank is the one who walked me to the conference room, right?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," I say walking back towards Tank's office. I know I shouldn't be so rude, but I really can't help it.

"You have no reason to be short with me. You are the one who instructed me to read you and I did. My advice is always given to help and not hurt. You can suck it up and take it like a man or you can ignore it but I will not tolerate any rudeness. Do you understand me?" she says. Well damn.

"Yes, ma'am," I say, not being able to control my smirk. She swiftly puts me in my place with a glare though. Damn she is beautiful.

"I'm sorry. You just unnerved me a little," I say, my eyes never once meeting hers.

"I accept your apology. Let's get this show on the road," she says knocking on Tank's door. Did she just?

"Enter," Tank said in his deep, baritone voice.

Opening the door, she walked in and sat in the chair in front of his desk. "Hi, Tank. When you were walking me to the conference room, you called me 'Ms. Plum.' Never do that again. It is Stephanie or Steph. You call me Ms. Plum and I look over my shoulder for my mother."

"Ok," he said.

"Hm. You're the strong, silent type. That's fine with me! I am fairly sure I talk enough for the both of us," Stephanie says to him.

"I think you and my girlfriend would like each other," Tank said.

"Really? What is she like?" she says excitedly.

"This isn't a social call, guys. Get to work," I say, turning on my heel and walking away. I need to go meditate or something


End file.
